Easton finance director to step down

Easton's finance director will step down in August to take a similar job with a New Jersey school district.

Chris Heagele, 44, is the city's first finance director. He took the job in 2008 after it was created by a new city charter.

Heagele is scheduled to start his new job as the business administrator for North Warren Regional School District on Aug. 17.

"It's bittersweet," Heagele said. "I really enjoy the position I have here. And at the same time I look forward to the future at North Warren Regional School District."

"Chris is not only a fellow employee. I consider him a friend," said Glenn Steckman, who was hired as Easton's first city administrator shortly after Heagele was hired.

Mayor Sal Panto Jr., after being elected to his second stint in Easton's top office, hired Heagele to bring private sector financial experience to the city. Seven years later, colleagues say the former project manager and vice president with Plymouth Financial Co. Inc., in Morristown, N.J., helped shepherd Easton through bad financial times into its recent surge in redevelopment.

"Chris certainly brought a strong financial background to the city that I don't think the city saw before that," Panto said. "Chris was crackerjack when it came to financial issues."

When Heagele took the job, the city's bond rating was BBB+. Steckman said in those days the city headed toward Act 47 status — a form of bankruptcy where state officials step in to shore up a municipality's finances.

Over Heagele's tenure, the city's finances improved. The bond rating moved up three notches to A+. Property taxes remained steady and budget deficits became problems of the past — there was never a budget deficit during Heagele's years at the position.

Developers from around the region frequently point to Easton's sound financial management as among their reasons for moving to the Lehigh Valley's smallest city. Steckman says Heagele was an integral part of the team that made that possible.

For the time being, Heagele and his wife and two children plan to continue to live at their Easton residence, but New Jersey state law will require him to move there within a year.